Along the Broken Road
by Stellar Eclipse
Summary: Life. It's about growing up, learning to let go, and trying to holding on, even if all you have to hold on to is memories. LeonCloud friendship.


_I blame/thank pyjamaTerra and Zeff N Company for instilling in me the adoration of the Hollow Bastion kids, and I've read something like the beginning to this somewhere before, with Cid (and kids?) finding him, but I've looked high and low and asked around and haven't been able to find it, so thanks to whoever put that idea in my head, too._

_Oodles of love to Staci for letting me ramble at her about this._

_Title from a song by Rascal Flatts. Kinda hit me out of nowhere and I liked it. ^^_

_Disclaimer: dood, _fan_fiction. Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, and the characters and universes therein are the property of Disney and Square Enix. I receive no remuneration for this work; it is a parody and as such utilizes the Fair Use clause of the Copyright Act._

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* * *

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"_Damn_ this storm," the man swears, thumbing the side of his nose. The lightning flashes a proud retort, and in the split second the street is awash in light, his eyes fall on a small figure huddled on the steps of a large stone house in ruins nearby. He frowns and yells from across the street, voice muted by the call of the thunder, "Hey! The hell you doing out at a time like this?"

Eyes the color of the bleak, overcast sky follow the man's progress as he jogs up, then shift quietly to the boy at his side, younger than himself, all scruffy blond hair and big blue eyes with one small hand firmly attached to the man's pocket.

"Waiting," he murmurs, folding his hands between his knees and tucking his chin to his chest against the biting, unnatural chill.

The man grunts, gnawing on a cigarette the rain has rent useless and eyeing the dilapidated structure behind the boy. "Shouldn't be. We gotta go. Anyone else here?" he asks gruffly. He peers up at the darkening clouds and the flashes of light and shadow that smother the land in despair, and before the boy can answer, he's already disappearing through the front door, hanging off its hinges from the force of the winds, calling back, "Cloud, stay with the kid!"

They're left alone while the man searches the ruins for any other sign of life, and they can hear his futile shouts over the roar of the storm and the haunting cries of the shadows, but only just.

"She said she'd come back," the boy continues after a moment, speaking to no one in particular. His voice is a little forlorn, and a little resigned, and no one hears him but the wind and the child the man left behind, still standing obediently at the base of the stairs and wavering slightly when stronger gusts of air whip around him.

Cloud stares up at the brown-haired boy, bewildered. He doesn't have parents of his own, and so he doesn't know to wonder where the other boy's are, but he does wonder who _she_ is, and why he's waiting for her here, all alone on the steps of this old house, when the world's getting so stormy that they can't tell day from night anymore and creeping shadow monsters are pouring out of every darkened corner to eat them all.

Aerith and Tifa always try to hug him when they're upset—which has been a lot over the past few days—but he doesn't really think the other boy would want a hug, so he reaches out and grabs his hand. He doesn't do anything else, just holds it, and looks back up at the ominous sky.

The taller boy glances down, startled by the touch. He blinks slowly, but doesn't pull away. "...Are you scared?"

"N-no." Cloud frowns, but another flash of lightning catches his attention, stark and blinding out of the corner of his eye, and when the resulting roll of thunder begins to sound, he squeezes the other boy's fingers a little more.

This time, they squeeze back.

* * *

Five years later, they're still trying to recover from the absolute chaos and destruction wrought upon their world by that one horrendous storm.

The boy from the steps, who calls himself Leon, and the little blond Cloud are best friends, and sometimes rivals. Cloud is nine and Leon eleven, and they play-fight as the light and the darkness, protecting Tifa and Aerith and little Yuffie from one another. It's the only way they know how to cope with the loss.

Usually Leon is the darkness.

Usually Cloud is the light.

Leon still hasn't told Cloud who _she_ is, but he's still waiting for her. Every morning he's up when the sun rises, watching the sky through the window in the room the boys share. Every evening after dinner they're allowed out in the cobbled streets of the borough, at least until sundown when the more malicious shadows come to call, and he plays with the other children for a time, but eventually he gravitates to a spot the younger kids haven't discovered yet, high up on the rooftops where he can see the horizon. Where he can see the sky.

Cloud knows where to look, though. He plops down cross-legged a few feet away from Leon because it's not cool to sit as close together as they used to, and they watch the sunset and wait for Cid to bellow for them to all come back inside, damn it.

Leon never told the other boy where to find him, but secretly, he doesn't mind the company. Cloud's the light to his darkness, after all.

* * *

Four years later, Cloud starts taking over the role of the darkness in their play-fights, which have become much less play and much more fight, and they're allowed to use real weapons as long as they're supervised by Cid or one of the other grown-ups. There are a lot of weapons stockpiled after the storm, but there aren't very many people to wield them anymore, so the children are allowed to choose one once they reach a certain age, because the heartless grow in numbers by the day, and the need for able-bodied fighters increases with them.

Cloud picks a broadsword taller than him, and wider than him, too. He can barely drag it alongside himself at first, much less heft it up and hold it properly. Leon laughs, and so does Cid. Merlin says he'll grow into it.

Leon picks a revolver-sword hybrid, easier to handle because of its weight and modest size, but just as lethal. Cloud laughs because it's smaller than his own, but really just because Leon laughed at him first. He feels bad afterwards, and doesn't cheer up until Leon promises to practice with him every day. Twice a day if he wants. He does, and they do.

One day, Cloud disappears without a trace.

Leon starts waiting for him, too.

* * *

Nine years later, Cloud returns to Hollow Bastion.

He doesn't recognize the town anymore. He immediately recognizes Leon, though, and Leon immediately recognizes him, but so much time has passed that they don't really know what to say to each other, don't know how to act around each other, and so they say and do nothing at first.

They've both become more withdrawn in their time apart, though Cloud seems to have suffered the worse for it. Where Leon has learned to cope and started to heal, Cloud has a new darkness, one he can't seem to shake no matter how hard he tries, and though he hasn't told Leon anything about it, the brunet can tell. He can see it in his eyes.

Now there's no play to their fight at all. It's rough and desperate and Cloud doesn't know where Leon got his skill and Leon's just as surprised by the sheer strength and speed with which Cloud wields that same heavy blade, though he suspects it has something to do with the weight in that blue gaze, the flicker of green that never used to be there. He wants so desperately to wash it away, to see Cloud's quiet smile like he used to, but somehow he knows that it's something he can't help with. It's something the blond has to deal with on his own, and so, like Cloud never asked about _her_, Leon will never ask about _him_.

* * *

Two years later, they fight side by side—rather, back to back—against a common enemy, the one they've been preparing for most of their lives. The long years spent apart suddenly seem so far away, and they're as close as they ever were. They strike without fear, and they don't hold back.

* * *

One month later, the war is over.

The chosen one has saved them all, and the world they call home has regained its original name: Radiant Garden. It's going to take more time to bring it back to its former glory, but time is something they have at their disposal, now that the battles have been won.

At least, some of the battles.

Cloud is gone again.

Leon waits again.

Cloud said he'd come back.

Leon believes him.


End file.
